Zhan S, et al. - A total of 5,342 patients in 15 studies were evaluated in this meta-analysis to see if there were clinicopathological features that could predict the risk of occult lateral neck lymph node metastasis (OLLNM) in N0/N1a papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). A significant association of OLLNM was reported with age <45 years, male sex, extrathyroidal extension, tumor location in the upper pole, tumor size >10 mm, positive central lymph node metastasis, number of central lymph node metastasis ≥3, and vascular invasion. In patients with N0/N1a PTC with a higher risk of OLLNM, fine-needle aspiration cytology or FNA-Tg test seemed to be a suitable and reasonable intervention.